This invention relates to a device adapted for holding a tissue specimen for radiographic exposure and subsequent pathological analysis, and to a biospy procedure utilizing such device.
The tissue holding device and biopsy procedure of the present invention have particular (but not exclusive) use in mammography, which is the radiographic study of the breasts, as for the detection of breast cancer. Conventional techniques for examination and treatment of the breasts involve radiographically exposing the breast using special mammographic equipment to determine if an abnormality (e.g., a microcalcification or lesion) is present in the breast, locating any such abnormality by inserting a needle-like pointer into the breast, surgically removing a specimen of the tissue in the area located by the pointer, and transporting the removed specimen to a pathologist for examination and analysis. Such examination and anlaysis takes place while the patient is still in surgery and typically involves freezing the specimen, slicing it into sections, and then microscopically examining the various frozen sections for the presence of the earlier detected abnormality. If the abnormality is located, it is examined and the results of the examination then conveyed to the surgeon for use in completing the surgery. If an abnormality is not located, another tissue specimen may have to be taken by the surgeon and the entire pathological process repeated.
It will be readily apparent, therefore, that to minimize the time a patient is being subjected to surgery, examination and analysis of the tissue specimen by the pathologist must be completed as expeditiously as possible. However, the conventional techniques described above are often less than expeditious. One reason for this is that the tissue specimen delivered to pathology may be relatively large and thus must be sliced into many sections, each of which must be separately analyzed. This process is both time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, in some instances, the specimen may not contain the abnormality, thereby necessitating the taking of another specimen for subsequent examination and analysis.
Accordingly, there is a need in the medical trade to expedite the process of analyzing a tissue specimen which may contain an abnormality, such as an abnormality indicative of breast cancer.